When The World Gets Cold, I'll Be Your Cover
by ItstheBookworm
Summary: Family is always there, whether you want them to or not. By your side. Fearful that he's going to loose Robin after possibly revealing his and his families secret ID's, by using the voice recognition override at Wayne Tech, Dick needs a little reminder that his family always has his back. Reverse Age Batfamily


There were times, in Robin's life, that he really hated his older siblings. Trust him, he had good reasons. He even had a list, under his bed, of every single reason why he should hate his siblings. That list is a lot longer than the reasons he liked them, why he should like them. The list, why he hated them, grew steadily longer (growing more so since he started with the team) every day. He was fairly certain that they had found it (at least Jason or Cass) too, as sometimes one of his reasons would mysteriously disappear or a new one would show up. But, often, the reasons why he hated them would be forgotten when they would (miraculously) do something nice for him.

"Robin!" Wally shouted in his ear, despite the fact that Robin had purposefully been ignoring him in favour of thinking of another reason to add to his hate list.

"What?" Robin demanded, adding Jason's gun fetish to his list after a few seconds thought.

"What are you doing?" Megan set a batch of cookies in front of them, even as she pointed to the list to add emphasis to her question. "It's very long."

"Writing a list about my siblings." Another line, Cass suddenly appearing behind him when he was doing something. "Annoying traits about them."

"Do you have Nightbat's overprotective tendencies on there?" Wally stuffed a cookie in his mouth, spraying crumbs everywhere.

"Yes, as well as Shadowbird's insistence to call everyone by their last names, even when we're in costume."

In agreement, Wally pointed his finger in Robin's direction. A little smile crossed Robin's face. At some point the rest of the team had migrated around them. This was the list he could write in the presence of his team as it had his siblings codenames instead of their actual names. It was also the list he kept the best hidden in his room (hidden in a loose panel on his wall that was covered by the last Flying Grayson poster, the same one that read the date of their deaths) that none of his siblings would find. Maybe Batman, but not his siblings.

"You've forgotten Oracle's stalking tendencies," Artemis commented, having read it over his shoulder as she walked by.

"Oh! Good one." Robin wrote it down without another word.

"Isn't that disrespectful?" Kaldur asked.

"Nah, I'm thinking we should hang it on the fridge. Add to it whenever they annoy us."

There were a few murmurs of agreement. Snatching a cookie, Robin chowed down on it as he scribbled another sentence on the paper. This one was Tim's non-stop work which eventually ended with him falling asleep at the worst moments. It just so happened that it always seemed to happen whenever he promised to do something with Robin's civilian identity. That particular bad habit of Tim's had caused many pranks, courtesy of Robin himself. Those would always end with Tim owing Robin a favour (many favours).

"Don't forget how much coffee he consumes," Conner added, taking the place on Robin's other side.

"I don't care about coffee." Yet Robin diligently wrote it down. "Agent A always gives me tea."

"I like tea," Megan agreed.

"See!"

A throat cleared behind them and Robin stuffed the rest of the cookie in his mouth before turning around. Standing there was Nightbat, Robin's eldest brother, with one eyebrow raised. A cookie filled grin was sent his brother's way. This only gave him a soft sigh in response. Behind him his team members whispered to each other, Artemis sneakily hiding the list. Well, she covered it with an open cookbook and chattered with Megan about what the best meal would be for tonight.

"Don't forget about Rob's peanut allergy," Megan said, "We could replace the peanuts with almonds maybe…"

"Robin," Nightbat said, crossing his arms over the red bat on his skin tight black costume. It looked a lot like Batman's, but without the cape and with a mask that covered his entire face.

"Nightbat," Robin repeated in the same tone.

"Are you here to give us a mission?" Wally asked hopefully.

"That's B's job," Nightbat replied.

"B's on a mission with the Justice League." Robin fiddled with a bird-a-rang in his hands, not looking up at his brother.

"And? I'm not part of the Justice League."

"Yeah but you take up the Batman role whenever he's not there."

"So that means you can give us missions!" Wally added.

"I'm not here to give you a mission, I'm here to get my younger brother," Nightbat said.

A barely noticeable wince, Robin hunched in on himself. All eyes were on him so he slipped the list out from under the cookbook and slipped it into his utility belt. Without a word, he stood up slowly. Robin knew why his brother was getting him. Earlier he had used the voice recognition code to get inside Wayne Enterprises, as Robin, despite it going into lockdown. Part of the reason he had been writing the list was too calm himself down. Weird way to cope, he knew that.

A silent wave to his team, all of whom looked slightly concerned for him, Robin walked towards his brother. Then he winced when Nightbat placed a hand on his back to lead him. This meant that they didn't trust him not to try and escape. Which meant that Batman was _not_ happy. Worrying on his bottom lip, Robin chanced a glance up at his oldest sibling. Nothing was given away, though his brother's mask made it difficult to tell anything. Completely covered everything, not even eyes visible. Only white eye slits. Even his mouth seemed covered, though he could see his teeth when he smiled. But right now Nightbat's poker face was on point. He could see now why he got the name Vampire Bat for a bit. Well, more so than he usually did.

"Am I in trouble?" Robin asked, stopping outside the zeta tube despite the slight push his brother gave him.

"Should you be?" Nightbat looked down at him, somehow Robin could tell his eyebrow was raised.

"I…"

One more push was all it took for Robin to enter the zeta tube. It read out his designation and right outside the door was Spoiler, waiting for him. The trust his family had for him was heartwarming, really, but this much? Did they honestly think he would run? There was no where to go to. Maybe Haly's, but that would be the first place Bruce called if he ran off. Besides, Pop would send him straight back. Well, maybe. It depended on if Robin managed to have enough of a reason to run off. Then again, Pop would tell Bruce where he was anyways. Those two conspired against him, he just knew it.

"Does B really trust me that little?" Robin demanded.

Spoiler gave a small shrug, "I think he's more worried that you'll run away thinking that he'll take Robin from you."

That hadn't even crossed his mind till now. A little sliver of fear crept into his heart and he hunched into himself some. Would Batman take Robin from him? He couldn't! It was his and…

"Come on." Nightbat was by his side again, a hand between his shoulder blades.

Now properly worried, Robin looked up at Nightbat with a bit of fear in his eyes, hidden by the domino mask. "Is he going to take Robin from me?"  
"What? Where'd you…?"

"No, no." Spoiler knelt down in front of him, the hood of her costume pushed back revealing her eyes and the blonde of her hair. The lower half of her face was covered by black fabric that connected to her costume. "He's not going to take Robin from you. We won't let him."

"But-" Robin tried to argue.

Nightbat cut him off, "No but's. If he tries we'll tear him a new one. Deal?"

While the fear wasn't successfully alleviated, he felt a little better knowing that his siblings had his back. Though he was also fairly certain that the team wouldn't let Batman take Robin from him, much less the Justice League, it still didn't erase the doubt niggling the back of his mind. Like he could tell what Robin was thinking, Nightbat lifted him in the air and set him on his shoulders. It frustrated him just how easily his family could manhandle him. Robin made this clear by slipping down so that it was a piggyback ride, winding his arms around Nightbat's chest and his legs around Nightbat's torso.

Once he was situated comfortably on both ends, Nightbat took off into the air. Cool wind ruffled through Robin's hair and he tried to focus on the feeling of flying instead of the coiling fear and doubt in his gut. It grew in size as they got closer to the batcave. The feeling that he was going to be sick grew and he let a whimper escape, which was lost in the wind, before burying his face in his big brother's neck.

At the time, releasing his override code had been the only thing he could think of. Now, looking back on it, there were other things he could have done. Shoot a grappling hook at the wall, using the momentum he had gained and the speed of getting pulled to the hook in order to make it underneath safely. Stop the shutting of the door by shocking the system with an electricity filled batarang. There were so many things he could have done, but instead he used the one thing that could let the world know of their identities. He was in sooooooooo much trouble.

The wind stopped and he felt Nightbat land on the ground. Steeling himself, Robin slipped out of his brothers grip and stood next to him. They were inside the batcave, which did nothing to help the sick feeling. If he threw up he was so aiming at Batman. Not even the bats were making noise in the cave. The only sound was Batman typing away at the keyboard.

"Get changed." Batman's voice was low and gravely, so obviously Batman that it startled Robin.

"But-"

"Go change Dick."

Swallowing heavily, chancing a glance at his siblings (all of whom were now standing together), Robin made his way to the changing room. Silently he stripped down before setting them aside (folded of course) and changing into his civilian clothes. Biting back tears, he wiped furiously at his dry eyes and straightened his clothes. Dick walked slowly back into the batcave, where his family was waiting.

"Bruce…" Dick whispered, before his voice failed him.

Everyone looked up at him when he spoke up. The girls were scattered around the cave; Cass settled on a bench with her legs crossed, Steph standing besides Tim near the case of everyone's costumes (most of which were empty even if all their masks were off), Barbara next to the computers tapping away happily. None of the girls were in costume, already in their comfy civilian clothes, Steph had changed at some point. All his brothers, except Tim, were near Bruce. It was clear that they had been discussing something, probably him, and had been interrupted by his appearance.

"Hey Barbara, didn't you say you have homework?" Steph suddenly said, "I can help if you need it. So can Cass."

It was a worthwhile attempt, but Dick knew what they were really doing. This was them trying to be subtle in leaving Dick and Bruce alone. Or as alone as they could get with his brothers probable refusal to leave them. However this only helped to bring the anxiety of losing Robin, of getting in trouble, higher in it's intensity. It was suddenly difficult to breathe. Each of his sisters, even if Barbara wasn't actually adopted, placed a hand on his shoulder in support as they left. Cass' lingered a bit longer, squeezing his shoulder once, before she joined the others up the stairs.

Then it was silent again. A few beeps escaping the monitors, which Tim moved to check. One more shaky breath escaped Dick, looking at his mentor through his eyelashes. Despite the fact his cowl was pulled down, no emotion was able to be seen. He clenched his fists tightly to keep them from shaking, which didn't help much. Every breath was shaky.

"Grayson," Damian said, his voice not as gruff or stern as normal, "Calm down."

"Sorry," Dick whispered, raising his head slightly.

"Don't apologize," Jason spoke up, crossing his arms.

"Sit down." Bruce finally said something and it was nowhere close to what Dick wanted to hear.

"Bruce…" Dick moved to the bench and sat slowly, squeezing his thighs.

Each of his brothers sent a glare to Bruce, who sighed. Then his mentor, his guardian, the closest thing he had to a father since his own dad fell from the trapeze, walked away from him. Tension built in his body and he didn't look up when Terry and Damian sat down on either side of him. Glares were directed Bruce's way, even as he pulled something up on the monitor.

"I've changed the video and the sound so that it looks like you used a code I set up for Robin. I've also added codes for the rest of the families costumed alter egos, that way an issue like this doesn't happen again," Bruce explained.

His eyes flicked up. All of his brothers seemed surprised, so it didn't seem like they knew about this other. Yet Dick wasn't sure what to take of this. So Bruce cleaned up the mess he made, but what did that mean for the future of Robin? Was he getting to keep it or…?

"Are you going to take Robin from me?" Dick asked.

"No," Bruce replied, "You did what you thought best at the time."

"I'm sensing a but."

"Just a writing of what other ways you could have handled the situation."

That was different then what he was expecting. In fact, he was fairly certain that 'punishment' had something to do with his brothers. A slightly narrowed stare at them, all of whom were pretending to be innocent, was all Dick needed to do. Then he relaxed against Terry.

"Thanks…" Dick murmured.

"He wasn't planning to take Robin anyways," Terry muttered, "Jason made it clear that if he did he would help you create another persona."

"Tt, Todd would only make you his protege."

"I am not wearing a tiny helmet." Dick shuddered at the idea.

"Shut up," Jason grumbled.

"Well, I think we should go see what the girls are doing." The glint in Tim's eyes clued Dick in that something had been planned without his knowledge.

Without waiting for his response, the rest of his siblings left to the locker room. This left Dick alone with Bruce, still in his Batman costume with the cowl pulled down. For a while nothing was said. Then Bruce cleared his throat and turned the chair to face Dick.

"Your siblings made it clear that they had you for the rest of the day, so you don't need to worry about patrol tonight," Bruce told him.

"You're patrolling alone?!" Dick exclaimed.

"No."

"Then who's patrolling with you?"

"The circus is in town, we'll visit it later if you want."

Eyes narrowed, Dick wondered what exactly that meant. Before he could ponder it one of his siblings, curse you Damian, lifted him over his shoulder. A yelp nearly escaped his lips and he gripped onto Damian's t-shirt before pulling himself up into a better position. Once he was comfortable he leveled a glare at Damian.

The group made their way upstairs, Dick waving at Alfred as they entered the den. Already the girls were settled down in various positions with the menu for Dumbo playing. There were a stack of various Disney, and non-Disney, movies stacked besides the DVD player. Obviously they were going to be up late, perhaps even after Bruce would return from patrol.

"Down," Cass ordered Damian, pointing at Dick.

Jason manhandled Tim into sitting on the couch with him, the younger of the two leaning against the other. While Tim pretended he didn't want to sit with Jason, he didn't put up much of a fight. Dick was set on the ground and immediately got pulled down besides Cass on the other side of the couch. Terry occupied the space between Tim and Dick. Steph leapt onto the couch arm, settling down besides Cass. Barbara and Damian sat on the ground, Damian near Dick and Barbara at Jason's feet.

"Who has the remote?" Jason asked.

"Shhhh."

Dick wasn't sure who shushed Jason, but soon the movie was playing. Everyone settled in and two bowls of popcorn were passed around. At some point Dick found himself drifting, leaning against Terry. However he continued to watch the movie through half-closed eyes. Eventually he fell asleep, surrounded by his siblings.


End file.
